Confirmed with Link: Mike Babcock Hired as Oilers Head Coach | Presser

[LOFIN]

so? they're the most important players

Yet if they do something that the rest of the room doesn't approve, what kind of leadership is that?

I'm not saying that, but there is a good possibility of that.

 

[Soundwave]

Exactly

I mean the next coach was always 100% going to be a hard ass. Whether it's Babcock or Cassidy or Torts or Sutter, the "other guys" were never getting a soft coach after Knoblauch.

 

[rboomercat90]

My absolute credit you can still stomach even watching these anymore.

Any updates on the top to bottom forensic audit of team operations from a dozen years ago. ASking for friends.

That one was the water.

 

[5 14 6 1]

Well that article from Spec has me on board. If its what the big dawgs want. I am in.

 

[5 14 6 1]

Yet if they do something that the rest of the room doesn't approve, what kind of leadership is that?

I'm not saying that, but there is a good possibility of that.

The entire article says they want the coach to specifically hold them to account. Did you read it?

 

[LOFIN]

The entire article says they want the coach to specifically hold them to account. Did you read it?

Yes, that's what McDavid wants.

 

[Steamy Ray Vaughn]

Edmonton saw the NHL recycling coaches and decided to go to the toxic waste dump

 

[rboomercat90]

Looking forward to the season now, I think it’s going to be interesting. I’m most curious to see how Babcock handles Nuge who is considered a core player, wears a letter but has a tendency to float through seasons without ever showing a pulse. Like others have already pointed out, Nuge wasn’t mentioned as being one of the players involved in the Babcock discussions (I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not even aware Knoblach is out, lol) and that seems worth taking note of to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the first battlegrounds in this new era.

 

[5 14 6 1]

Yes, that's what McDavid wants.

The article says its what the entire leadership core wants. Why would the rest of the team be upset that the leaders want the rest of them to have more of a role and the big guys want to to be held more accountable? Or are you just being intentionally obtuse?

 

[Joey Moss]

When it comes to Babcock’s previous antics, I have a hard time forming a hard opinion on it. On one hand, calling Franzen into the office and telling him he’s a fat f*** is totally not okay. But it was also in 2008. I had minor hockey coaches in 2008 talk like this.

On the other hand, a 60 year old man trying a get to know you style introduction with players camera roll is hard to judge. My 60 year old father has nothing but photos of blue jays in his yard and his dog.. I’ve showed grandparents photos of a vacation I had been on and they just scroll through like it’s nothing. It’s part of that generation where they don’t really think about personal photos in a cell phone camera roll. I have a hard time picturing Babcock trying to embarrass anyone with this. Johnny Gaudreau also said it was unfortunate how overblown it became. Turns out, it seems like the player who had an issue with it was Patrik Laine who by the way has never been the most coachable player in the league either.

Then there’s Mike Commodore who has been bashing Babcock since 2016. I think this requires context.. Commodore for most of his career was a fringe NHL’er who probably thought he deserved more than he did - especially in the part of his career where he ended up in Detroit. Even back in 2016 when I listened to the Spittin Chiclets episode with him on it, it reeked of someone who was just salty about his playing time. He even referenced at one point how Babcock favored Kurt Sauer in the minors over him because he was “his boy from Spokane” and then said Sauer was soft as baby shit. Someone needs to tell Commodore it’s been 20 years, get over it.

I’m sure Babcock has done some extremely questionable things in his 30 year coaching career, but at this point it seems like it’s more of a pack mentality of disgruntled former NHL’ers who conveniently were in the latter half of their careers (Winnik, Commodore etc) coming out about it.

We’ll see how it turns out. Maybe I’m giving him too much sympathy.

 

[LOFIN]

The article says its what the entire leadership core wants. Why would the rest of the team be upset that the leaders want the rest of them to have more of a role and the big guys want to to be held more accountable? Or are you just being intentionally obtuse?

Because Babcock doesn’t pull his stunts with the leadership group, so they have nothing to worry about.

The rest of the players know this. McDrai are not facing the same coach.

 

[harpoon]

Or are you just being intentionally obtuse?

Hes not from around here. Never seen the poster on this board before. Looks like an Avs fan. Lol.

 

[Steamy Ray Vaughn]

When it comes to Babcock’s previous antics, I have a hard time forming a hard opinion on it. On one hand, calling Franzen into the office and telling him he’s a fat f*** is totally not okay. But it was also in 2008. I had minor hockey coaches in 2008 talk like this.

On the other hand, a 60 year old man trying a get to know you style introduction with players camera roll is hard to judge. My 60 year old father has nothing but photos of blue jays in his yard and his dog.. I’ve showed grandparents photos of a vacation I had been on and they just scroll through like it’s nothing. It’s part of that generation where they don’t really think about personal photos in a cell phone camera roll. I have a hard time picturing Babcock trying to embarrass anyone with this. Johnny Gaudreau also said it was unfortunate how overblown it became. Turns out, it seems like the player who had an issue with it was Patrik Laine who by the way has never been the most coachable player in the league either.

Then there’s Mike Commodore who has been bashing Babcock since 2016. I think this requires context.. Commodore for most of his career was a fringe NHL’er who probably thought he deserved more than he did - especially in the part of his career where he ended up in Detroit. Even back in 2016 when I listened to the Spittin Chiclets episode with him on it, it reeked of someone who was just salty about his playing time. He even referenced at one point how Babcock favored Kurt Sauer in the minors over him because he was “his boy from Spokane” and then said Sauer was soft as baby shit. Someone needs to tell Commodore it’s been 20 years, get over it.

I’m sure Babcock has done some extremely questionable things in his 30 year coaching career, but at this point it seems like it’s more of a pack mentality of disgruntled former NHL’ers who conveniently were in the latter half of their careers (Winnik, Commodore etc) coming out about it.

We’ll see how it turns out. Maybe I’m giving him too much sympathy.

It's one thing to be an asshole. If you win, a lot can be forgive. He's touted as this successful coach but he's not made it out of the first round since 2013 and not past the 2nd round since 2009. He hasn't coached a professional game since 2019l. If Edmonton wanted a hard nosed coach, Torts was available and he doesn't carry nearly as much baggage as Babcock. Why would you want to bring in a mediocre coach who is also a massive asshole?

 

[Lay Z Boy GM]

Bowman better make some good trades because I’ll have to tune out for the summer if all the discussion is griping about Babcock being a meanie. Mcdavid wants this, get on board or don’t.

But man, do something good Bowman so we can talk about something else.